UNDERFIRE Trivia

In case any of you out there want to know more about the UNDERFIRE series so far, here ya go.

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I've been lazy. Realize that all the trivia only applies to the UNDERFIRE series, not any other videos from Theorem 42.

UNDERFIRE SERIES

• Ryan, Brandon, and Henry have been in every UNDERFIRE video to date.
• The sound effect for the Maverick/Revolver has been the same in every video, the Counter-Strike: Source Desert Eagle sound.
• Each video ends in the same spot.
• During filming, we have always been questioned by neighbors about our shenanigans.
• The inspiration of the series was Call of Duty 4 and Team Fortress 2.

UNDERFIRE

• This is the only video so far that only stars 3 people.
• This is the only video with subtitles.
• This is the only video that ends with everyone alive.
• This is the only video that has a "happy ending"
• When Ryan and Brandon are facing off, Ryan hides behind some stairs. After Brandon is ambushed by Henry, the stairs that Ryan is hiding behind changes. This is because when we were filming, the person who lived there came out, and we didn't want to be confronted.
• The Wilhelm Scream can be heard.
• This is the only video that a Portal song appears, 5000 Degrees Kelvin.
• This is the first video that Adobe After Effects was used in a Theorem 42 video, for the title.
• The primary color for this video is red for the sunniness and the high energy.

UNDERFIRE Deathmatch

• This is the video in which William makes his Theorem 42 debut.
• The video was actually filmed in the rain, thought the rain was intermittent, so sometimes it shows up, sometimes it doesn't.
• Henry dies in a similar fashion in the beginning as the first video; Ryan headshots him when he peeks over a bush.
• When Henry kills Ryan with the shotgun and runs away, you can see William sitting on the stairs in the background.
• This is the only video that a Team Fortress 2 song appears, Faster than a Speeding Bullet.
• The title retains the quick word glimmer as in the first video, but more advanced.
• This is the first video to have limited lives. Though it is not directly stated, once Ryan kills Brandon for the last time, he does not respawn.
• Though not directly contributing to the video, in the first 5 minutes of filming, we were yelled at by a woman for being too loud outside.
• The primary color for this video is blue for the gloominess of the rain.

UNDERFIRE War

• This is the video in which Matt makes his Theorem 42 debut.
• This is the first video that songs from the Half-Life 2 episodes appear.
• This is the first Theorem 42 video to have a trailer.
• This is the first video to include blood effects.
• This is the first video to feature team deathmatch.
• This is the first video to feature full length dialogue.
• Ryan and Henry wear black shirts, while Matt and Julien wear white shirts.
• Brandon only makes a small cameo here, for the sake of being in the video, and also to reference to the previous videos.
• It appears that Ryan, Henry, and Brandon made a truce of some sort and formed a team.
• In this video, there is a better implication of limited lives, as an example of Brandon.
• The real reason why it was raining at the end was because we filmed the ending on a separate day, and it was raining that day.
• The symbol on Ryan's shirt is of Portal.
• The title also retains the word glimmer from the first video.
• The primary color for this video is yellow, for the high energy and the high speed action.
• Team Tigers was the result of a discussion on current issues. The name of that team came from the discussion of Tiger Woods.
• The only person whose name is not mentioned is Henry.
• During the machine gun scene, a neighbor came out and confronted us.
• When Ryan's respawn is shown, an old Half-Life song plays. This is the same song we used for Ryan's respawn in UNDERFIRE.
• The silencer on Julien's rifle toward the end of the video is on crooked. The silencer was made from the core of a toilet paper roll and black electrical tape.
  

UNDERFIRE War Reflection

Like my past few videos, I will be writing a reflection on our past video.

UNDERFIRE War has become my proudest video overall. Its editing and effects are vastly superior to the past videos thanks to Action Essentials 2. This was good for the overall video, yet bad for me in ways. For one, it increased the amount of time it took to edit the clips. Instead if editing every other frame, or every two frames, I often had to edit frame by frame. One clip took me a week, five straight seconds of spray and pray by Ryan. Those kinds of scenes honestly drove me a bit nuts simply because of the number of frames required to edit.

In my opinion, Julien and Ryan shine in this video. Julien, first of all, was an overall great actor in the video. Everything he did was natural; the sliding, the walking, everything. He is a natural actor, and he will most certainly be starring in our next video. Ryan did a good job doing his scenes. They weren't forced; he was simply doing the actions. They were believable and not over the top.

Matt was also good in his first role. In the beginning, it was a bit rough trying him to get to fall or react in certain ways. However, as the video went on, you can visually see his acting getting better. His facial expressions are also hilarious. Next stoner video for certain.

Henry delivered a solid performance also. His speaking parts were a bit forced, but it wasn't enough to make it sound stupid. He did a great job in the machine gun scene, grabbing the side and vibrating the gun in a realistic fashion. All of his falls were also very realistic, from his very first death to his last. All my actors were awesome.

I personally liked the angle choices. They varied more in the beginning because of the amount of time we spent on the first few scenes. Toward the end, we rushed slightly more. But I think in the end, we maintained good angles for our shots.

The action sequences were awesome, however, upon prior examination, I saw that there were not as many sequences as previous installments it seems. They were overall better though. The machine gun scene was my favorite, followed by the beginning scene and the scene right after the machine gun scene. It offers good variance in the flow of the video, from loud and exciting to quiet and unsuspecting. I had many people flip out when Ryan snuck out and shot Julien in the head because of how quiet and sudden it was.

The dialogue was okay. It could have been better I guess, but for the sake of this video, it was good enough. UNDERFIRE is not about story, it's about action. The break in the middle offers a break in fighting to prepare for the machine gun scene. It provides backstory to what happened before the video started, including my embarrassing death. Also, I think it's pretty funny, both sides. It adds personality to the characters.

I'm so proud of this video, and I truly truly hope that eventually it will become more popular on Youtube. Congratulations, friends, on another great video experience.

UNDERFIRE War

UNDERFIRE War

The new installment in the UNDERFIRE series, introducing:

UNDERFIRE War!!!

There are 2 parts because it is over 11 minutes long. Bear with it and please, watch both parts!

It is the best video I have ever had the pleasure of editing, directing, and being a part of. I could never have done this without the hard work and cooperation of my friends.

So, ENJOY!!

By the way, Henry made that picture up there. Kudos to him for making such a cool poster :D

TRAILER -- UNDERFIRE War

UNDERFIRE War

INTRODUCING, THE TRAILER FOR THE UPCOMING NEW VIDEO BY THEOREM 42, IT'S UNDERFIRE WAR.

It will be released probably by next week or so? Be ready. Show all your friends!!

And The Editing Continues

The scene mentioned in the previous post took me a few days to complete, in between karate, homework, and whatnot. I have dubbed it "The Ass Scene." It was actually ten times harder to finish than "The Bitch Scene" from Deathmatch. I manually cut Ryan and his gun out for 4 seconds straight, which is about 120 frames. God.... But it's over!

Well the video looks phenomenal. The effects make an enormous difference in quality from our last UNDERFIRE. It's a huge step for us. Seriously.

Here are some photos for you!









Gasp, it's me in one of those pictures! Yes, I make an appearance. You'll have to see me in action when the video is released ;)

It looks pretty good doncha think? I'll add filters once the entire video is done. I have about half of the effects editing, probably a bit less. But progress is swift, and I become more and more excited to see this thing finished.

UNDERFIRE: Advanced After Effects

I haven't updated this in a few days because school has been taking up my time unfortunately. However, I have been thinking about you!

Now one of the main focuses of the Underfire series is the special effects. We started with simple photoshop layers pasted directly onto the video timeline. Then we drew the [terrible] muzzle flashes onto the clips via After Effects. That was the worst After Effects experience I have ever had. It was extremely inefficient and didn't even look good, regardless of what I said back then. It taught me how After Effects works though.

Now, with the third installment, I have wisened up with my skills. I'm much more efficient now, utilizing many new techniques that could be considered advanced. My motion tracking is a million times better now. My overall compositing skills have been boosted.

Remember the "bitch" scene? Now that I'm where I am now, that scene is nothing compared to the scene I'm working on at this moment.

I have already used motion tracking multiple times in the video. Almost every fx clip has motion tracking. I'm so proud of how far we've come.

I'm implementing advanced muzzle flashes, concrete hits, sparks, and some blood effects in the video. Here's a picture of a typical scene in the video:


As you can see, simply placing the muzzle flash over the clip does nothing. It looks terrible like this. However, utilizing the power of masking...


BAM, I CUT OUT THE GUN AND RYAN IN ORDER TO PUT THE FLASH BEHIND THEM. This is how the process works. It is a long, and very very tedious process. It's very slow too, going frame by frame (remember, 30 frames per second).

However, it must be done. I honestly kinda enjoy this. It's tedious and boring, but you get to see the ordinarily plain clip transform into something so awesome.

The first two scenes are just about done. This here is the third scene. As you can see, Julien is going to be dominated by Ryan.

I couldn't be happier with how the video looks so far. It's honestly incredible and super exciting. Can't wait to show y'all the final product.

Well night everyone!

UNDERFIRE 3

Announcing, the new video soon to hit Youtube, the third installment of the UNDERFIRE series!

I shall give you readers a small description of what it's about:

1. There are 4 players
2. It is 2 versus 2
3. There are Nerf guns

You may remember Julien from the Missing Immigrant Agency. He makes an appearance in this video. Plus, my friend Matt makes his debut. I make a short cameo, and Ryan and Henry return, this time as teammates.

I am very excited to see the final product. I've lain down all the clips already, and it looks pretty good so far. With music and effects, this is sure to be a great video.

The special effects are gonna be incredibly tough though. LOTS of new things that I'm going to put in, like new muzzle flashes, blood effects?, smoke, and wall hits. It's going to take a while to finish. But I will do my best as editor to make you fans happy!

I have some preliminary pictures for you.

I will be updating this blog frequently. Much editing must be done!

More screenshots and news to come.